Hopes that a recent rise in San Diego County home prices would signal an end to the housing slump were tempered Wednesday when MDA DataQuick reported that foreclosures in June surged nearly 66 percent over the previous month.

DataQuick reported 1,630 foreclosures for June, compared with 985 in May. It was the single greatest monthly increase since December 2007. However, compared to one year ago, the June count was down by 11 percent.

For the second quarter of 2009, there were 3,518 foreclosures in the county, a 14 percent rise over the previous quarter.

The research firm tallied 3,436 June notices of default, which begin the foreclosure process. That marked a 12 percent increase over May and an 11 percent increase over June 2008. For the second quarter, there were 9,866 notices of default, compared with 10,111 in the previous quarter, a 2.4 percent decline.

San Diego County's median home price rose for the third consecutive month in June, hitting $314,250, the highest figure since October, and raising hopes that the region's ailing housing market might be recovering.

Economist Christopher Thornberg, of Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, said California homeowners will face more trials before the prolonged housing market downturn ends.

“There are a half million people who will lose their homes in California when all is said and done,” he said. “It's a question of 'when,' not 'if.'”

Recent monthly fluctuations in foreclosure rates have been caused by ebbs and flows in the efforts by lenders to pursue defaulted loans, he said. Under pressure from Congress and the Obama administration, many banks imposed voluntary foreclosure moratoriums in the fall. Some of them are now are resuming evictions while others continue to delay, hoping that the economy will improve and they won't have to go through the expensive process of eviction and resale.

“Banks are very stressed, and a foreclosed home is a home you have to write off,” he said.

Beth Mills, a spokeswoman for California Bankers Association, said lenders often find that modifying loans to keep delinquent lenders in their homes isn't practical.

“Unfortunately, you have some instances where folks have lost jobs,” she said. “In some instances, foreclosure is the only option.”

Statewide, DataQuick reported that lenders sent out 124,562 default notices during the second quarter, a drop of 8 percent from the prior quarter's record 135,431 default notices, and up 2.4 percent from 121,673 in second quarter 2008.

California foreclosures totaled 45,667 during the second quarter, up nearly 5 percent from 43,620 for the prior quarter, and down 28 percent from 63,316 for last year's second quarter.